Billy Kay

Billy Kay is a Scottish Writer and Broadcaster who specialises in the history, language and culture of his native land. He was born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1951, and educated at Galston High School, Kilmarnock Academy and Edinburgh University. He produced and presented many radio and television documentaries on Scottish cultural history for the BBC. He is co-author, with Cailean Maclean of the book Knee Deep in Claret. He is a passionate advocate of the Scots language and author of the classic work Scots: The Mither Tongue. His book on the phenomenal global influence of the Scottish diaspora The Scottish World was published in 2006. In November 2023 he published his memoir in Scots, Born in Kyle, which he describes as a love letter to an Ayrshire childhood. He was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of St Andrews in 2026.